Heney m



(No Model.)

H. MQBYLLESBY '& P. LANCE.

CIRCUIT CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC CIRCUITS.

No. 366,374. Patented July 12, 1887.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY M. BYLLESBY AND PHILIP LANGE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA,ASSIGNORS TO GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, JR, OF SAME PLACE.

CIRCUIT-CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC CIRCUITS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 366,374, dated July 12,1887.

Application filed December 7, 1886. Serial No. 220,911. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HENRY M. BYLLnsnY, a citizen of the United States,and PHILIP LANGE, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, both residing inPittsburg, in the county of Allegheny, in the State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circuit-Controllersfor Electric Gircuits, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to apparatus employed for controlling theconnections of electriclighting and other similar circuits, and forregulating the number of lamps or modifying the consumption of electricenergy in any given circuit. I

The invention is especially applicable to the so-called three-wiresystems of electrical distribution, but may also be employed withadvantage in electric-lighting circuits in general.

The invention will be specifically described in its connection with athree-wire system, and its most useful function in such a system is toprovide convenient means for placing a certain portion of the wholenumber of lamps upon one side or the other of the system-that is to say,between thepositive wire and the neutral conductor, or between thelatter and the negative wire, according as they may be required upon oneside or the other to balance the con sumption of energy in the two partsof the system. p

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan of an apparatusembodying the invention, and Fig. 2 is a section of the same.

Referring to the drawings, L, L and L represent, respectively, thepositive, negative, and the neutral conductors of a three-wire system ofelectrical distribution. Now, it frequently occurs in practice that thenumber of lamps in actual use upon the respective sides of the systemvaries, so that the consumption of electrical energy, or, as it istechnically termed, the load, upon one side becomes greater than thatupon the other. It then becomes necessary either to insert an artificialresistance upon the opposite side to balance the excess of lamps in use,or to transfera certain proportion of lamps from one side to the otherof the system. To accomplish this a certain number of lamps, (Z (Z d,&c., are so situated that they may be placed in circuit between eitherthe positive or negative and the neutral conductor by means of theswitch. To this end a plate, 13, of non-conducting material, is fixedupon a shaft, 6, which permits the shaft to be turned either toward theright hand or the left hand until arrested by a fixed stop, a or a whichengages with a corresponding projection, b or I). The plate B carriestwo circuit-closing plates, F and F, semicircular in form, and adaptedtomake electrical contact with one or more of a series of detachedcontact-plates,.h h. These contactplates, which may be of any convenientor retion sufficiently far to include the entire series ofcontact-plates h h, but is prevented from touching the plate H by reasonof the stop a. In like manner the support may be moved to ward the lefthand a sufficient distance to include all the contacts, but is preventedfrom touching the plate H by the stop a. In this manner a short circuitbetween the plates H and H is rendered impossible.

It will be evident that the number of active lamps included between theconductors L and L will be those connected with the particular plates ofthe series h h at any time in contact with the plate F, the remainderbeing in circnit between the lines L and L through the plate F As theload upon one side or the other of the system preponderates, a balancemay be effected by simply transposing the lamps d d, or a sufficientnumber of them,-from one side to the other of the system. It should benoticed that the breadth of the plates h is less than the distance whichseparates the ends of the arms F and F so that it is impossible contactshould be made with any single plat-e by both arms at the same time.

1. The combination of a series of contactplates, conductors leadingtherefrom, respect- ICC) ively, artificial resistances included in saidconductors, a conductor with which all of said conductors arepermanently connected, two insulated circuitclosing plates of equallength applied to said contact-plates, a support car rying the same,whereby either of the latter plates maybe brought in contact with one ormore of the first-named contact-plates, and conductors electricallyconnected with said circuit-closing plates, respectively.

2. In a three-wire system of electrical distribution, the combination ofa semicircular series of contacts, two semicircular circuitclosingplates, means for placing either circuitclosing plate in contact withany given number of said contacts, a connection from the respeetivecircuit-closing plates with the positive and negative conductors of thesystem, and incandescent electric lamps included between HENRY M.BYLLESBY. PHILIP LANGE. \Vitnesses:

I. G. BACKOFEN, (hummus A. TERRY.

